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By Choe Sang-HunThe New York Times • Sunday June 15, 2014 9:41 AM

HEUKSAN ISLAND, South Korea — South Korea has a generous list of foods some find hard to
swallow, among them boiled silkworm pupae and live baby octopuses, which have been known to attach
their suction cups to the roofs of diners’ mouths in what appear to be desperate bids to
escape.

But fermented skate from this southern island tops them all. By far South Korea’s smelliest
food, the fish, called hongeo, is described by lovers and detractors alike as releasing odors
reminiscent of an outhouse. Served most often as chewy pink slabs of sashimi, hongeo is prized by
enthusiasts for the ammonia fumes it releases, sometimes so strong they cause people’s mouths to
peel.

“I used to think that people could not possibly eat this stuff unless they were crazy,” Park
Jae-hee, a 48-year-old marketing executive, said. “But like smelly blue cheese, it has no
replacement once you fall in love with it.”

Owners of restaurants that specialize in hongeo advise customers to seal their jackets in
plastic bags before the meal and offer to spray them with deodorant afterward.

“I’ve eaten dog, durian and bugs, but this is still the most challenging food I’ve ever eaten,”
said Joe McPherson, the American founder of the Korean food blog ZenKimchi, who has become a
self-appointed ambassador for Korean cuisine. “It’s like licking a urinal.”

Islanders say the fish first gained a following here because of a quirk of biology. In the days
before refrigeration, the fishermen’s forebears learned that hongeo was the only fish they could
ship to the mainland 60 miles away without salting. The hongeo lacks a bladder and excretes uric
acid through its skin. As it ferments, it oozes ammonia that keeps it from going bad.

“Hongeo can’t pee, and that’s where the miracle begins,” Kim Young-chang, 77, the owner of a
hongeo restaurant, said. A true believer in the fish’s power, Kim rattled off a list of health
benefits he believes come from eating it. “I have never seen anyone having stomach trouble after
eating hongeo,” he proclaimed.